An improved model for membrane characterization in forward osmosis

• Published in: Journal of membrane science Vol. 598; p. 117668
• Main Authors: Martin, Jeffrey T., Kolliopoulos, Georgios, Papangelakis, Vladimiros G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15-03-2020
• Subjects: Desalination; Forward osmosis; Membrane modeling; Permeability; Membrane modeling; Permeability; Forward osmosis; Desalination
• ISSN: 0376-7388; 1873-3123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2019.117668

As a promising technology for industrial water recovery, forward osmosis (FO) requires a rigorous and accurate transport model to determine its efficacy for water recovery from challenging effluents, yet current models neglect the non-ideality of concentrated draw solutions, and mass-transfer boundary layers within the process. This work builds upon recent FO transport models and presents an improved FO-based membrane characterization method that addresses the non-ideality of concentrated draw solutions, physical properties that are not based on the bulk draw solution, and all instances of concentration polarization. Using the FO-based characterization method of the present work, consistent water permeability and structural parameter values are obtained with R2 > 0.985 for multiple inorganic draw solutions. When compared to additional experimental FO transport data, improvements of up to 107% were observed over the existing FO-based characterization method. Using the modeling approach developed in this work, the assessment for a potential FO application is refined by providing the means for accurate process modeling and membrane characterization.
•An improved model is developed for forward osmosis mass transport.•The predicted fluxes agree with experiments for multiple inorganic draw solutions.•Membrane parameterization method obtains consistent intrinsic membrane parameters.•Enhancements to evaluation of membrane performance for water recovery.